bush took a big lead in 2004, squandered it with a miserable debate performance to win by a bigger margin than most expected. sort of like barack obama this year. it works on mysterious issues, too. amazing when you think about it. in 2004, it treated like a fringe concept. a massachusetts state supreme court ruling, there wasn't much of a debate. nbc news/wall street journal polling 63 tkt to 3%. bush played up the devotion to traditional marriage. democrats mostly just tried to ignore the whole thing hoping it would go away. you probably remember what it was like when bush won. value voters were the majority. america was a fundamentally conservative country. anyone who didn't support this would have to deal with it. all of this happened just eight years ago. feels more distant after what played out this year in 2012. the incumbent president endorsed marriage equality. gay marriage started winning at the ballot box. 4 for 4 last month. polls show plurality and outright majority for gay marriage. it's not slowing the transformation of gay marriage. it's been rapid and profound. it's hard